A Different Beginning
by Okita1209
Summary: redone and re-committed to Chihiro's not ten when she first visits the spirit world, she seventeen ... and very very attitudal. Will this extreme age difference hinder her ability to do what she must to save her family?
1. The Middle of Nowhere

_**Author's Note: I know it's been a few years snce I've worked on this piece, but I've been rather busy and since I just happened back to this site, I thought "Well, since I started it, may as well finish". So I, dear tuburculosis victim, do solemnly swear to attempt to finish this story ... eventually. I'm presently working on the fourth chapter and should have it posted by Friday. On a side note, I have gone through the chapters that I previously posted and fixed them as best I can. If anyone wants to beta, shoot me a email and we'll work something out, because my goal, as often as I can remember it, is to work smarter not harder.**_

_**The Middle of Nowhere  
Chapter 1**__  
_

_  
_It was official now, oh yeah, definitely official, she _hated_ car rides. Especially the sort where it was a one-way trip from one home to another; a.k.a. moving. "Be happy," they said, "it's fun," they said.

_Yeah, and hell is a koi pond,_ she thought with a snort.

Chihiro lay across the back seat of her parents' car with her music playing through her headphones, an empty box of pocky sitting rather snugly between her body and the back of the rear bench of the car. A small bouquet of pink flowers lay across her lap and she turned the card that had come with them side over side through her fingers, stopping every few turns to read what was written:

"Good luck, Chihiro, we'll meet again.  
Your Best Friend: Rumi!"

She sighed, _don't wanna move.  
_  
As her father drove down the small roads, she watched the trees pass with only a mild interest. The landscape was kind of similar to where they had last lived, but a hillside in Tokyo is just about as different from this place as rags are from a Geisha's party kimono. They had lived just near the Kohaku-gawa, the very river she'd grow up by her whole life; at least until they had drained it and built three new apartment complexes in it. The years after that Chihiro had grown more and more unruly, and at times, depressed as.

"This really is the middle of nowhere," she heard her mother say to her father. "I'll have to shop in the next town."

"It'll be great once we get used to it," her father countered matter-of-factly.

_It's going to suck,_ Chihiro thought in a rather sardonic tone, only vaguely noticing when the trees gave way to the scattered buildings of the small town.

"Look, there's the school!" her father exclaimed, "There's your new school, Chihiro."

_I'm not a child; you don't have to point out everything._ As she lazily sat up and glanced out the window her mind just barely registered the soft tones of her mother's voice:

"It doesn't look so bad."

Chihiro narrowed her eyes at the bleached stone and cement building, and then stuck her tongue out at it stubbornly. "I liked my old school better," she said in a voice that sounded like she was worn out, exhausted. _That's why I took the entrance exam for that school and not this one.  
_  
"It'll be alright, dear," her mother told her encouragingly.

_Doubt it_, and she turned around to lay down again, shifting so that she faced the back of the seat. Only when the plastic wrapping crunched and crackled did she realize that she was, quite effectively, crushing her flowers as she moved.

_Damn the luck,_ she thought and groaned, sitting back up.

"What is it, Chihiro?" her mother asked, turning in her seat to see what the matter was.

"My flowers are getting crushed," Chihiro said with a mournful sigh. "I can't _believe_ this!"

Her mother took the card from her fidgeting fingers and examined it for a moment, "No wonder, the way you cling to them so. We'll put them into some water when we get there and they'll perk right up."

"My first real bouquet is farewell flowers, how crappy is that," she slumped down in her seat, trying to look as small as possible, lest any of their new neighbors see her.

She took her card from her mother and went back to turning it over through her fingers again. She looked down at her poor flowers, the only bouquet she'd ever been given by someone other than her parents. It was special, especially since it was from the girl who had been her best friend since they were small children.

"What about that rose you got for your birthday or the flowers you got for sports? Don't those count?"

Chihiro sighed, "No, I said a _real_ bouquet. Getting flowers for sports doesn't count and a single rose _isn't_ a bouquet."

Her mother sighed again, turning to her husband who did nothing but shrug with a you-can't-really-blame-her expression on his face. "I'm opening the window. C'mon, be happy. It's a big day for all of us."

_It doesn't care,_ Chihiro thought, slightly amused at the fact that she was referring to herself as an "it", and watched the electric poles as they sped down the little two-lane highway. Then she bolted up out of her seat, leaning between her parents and speaking rather excitedly, "Quick, turn around and let's go home, there's still time! I would bet you money that they haven't even sold our house yet!"

Her father laughed his deep belly laugh, so deep that it affected even his voice when he spoke. "No, no, it's not that easy, sweetheart. Besides, the movers are already on their way to our new house."

She flopped back onto the rear bench and crossed her arms over her chest, pouting slightly, "Can't blame me for trying,."

Lying back down, her feet propped up on the armrest of the car door; she turned up her music to drown out the sound of the wind rushing through the car. _I hate this,_ she decided just as they turned onto the exit for Tochinoki. As they went up the hill, Chihiro could tell that everything was going to change, no matter how much her parents said it would be exactly the same.

Almost half an hour later, she could feel a change in the texture of the road, as if it had gone from paved to unpaved. _That can't be right,_ she thought, sitting up to see what was going on.

They were stopped right beside a huge tree, one that had to be at least a hundred years old judging from the fact that it was wider than the shrine-like arch in front of it. The arch itself was poorly taken care of; only small flecks of paint remained on what she could only assume had been a bright red surface. The wood was bowed and the structure of it was very unstable, as if it might fall at any moment if it weren't so deep in the ground.

"Hey ... Did I take a wrong turn?" her father asked as he stuck his head out the window, glancing at the poorly kept dirt road leading into a large group of trees.

_Great, he got us lost, not surprising,_ she thought following her father's gaze towards the dirt road.

"That must be it, look," she heard her mother say through the music playing in her ears.

"Unh?" her father leaned over to look out of the passenger-side window, trying to catch what his wife was seeing.

_Miyavi, save me,_ Chihiro begged, looking up the hill behind the tree they were beside. _Okay, which one?  
_  
Almost as if on que, her mother answered her silent inquiry, "It must be that blue one over there."

"That's it! I must have missed the turn off," her father realized.

She wasn't impressed, not impressed at all. "I still say we turn around and just go home," Chihiro said, mostly to herself since they weren't going to listen to her anyway. Then she peered down at the trunk of the tree, something gray catching her eye. _What the…?_

"I bet this road'll get us there," she heard, so she rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning off her music just in case the road they got on was too bumpy.

"This is always how you get us lost," her mother complained as he pulled the car forward.

But her father wasn't going to listen, again. "Just a little farther, okay?"

_Typical male,_ she thought, shaking her head once more. Then she pulled herself up against her mother's seat, "What do you think all those shrines are for?"

"The people pray to them, some might even believe that little spirits live in them."

"Instead of just going to a temple? Great, we're moving in amongst psychos. What next, they dress up like frogs and dance around in circles waving fans around?" Her eyes followed the tree and the arch before it as they entered the path through the group of trees. Chihiro was slowly developing a bit of a sinking feeling as they went further and further into the trees, or maybe that was just her imagination.

"Dad, are we lost?" she asked after a few minutes, once again kneeling between her parents's seats, looking from one to the other.

"We're fine, we've got 4-wheel drive," he assured her with that classic smile that said what he had neglected to:

"I'm a man and I'm having probably _way_ too much fun plowing a path through the trees with my itty bitty Audi."

_We are_ all _going to die,_ she thought, remembering the last time he'd gone driving down a back road.

The tradition held true once more as her father sped up, jolting down the dirt road. The car lurched forward over the old cobblestones and Chihiro fell back onto the back seat, clutching her flowers to her chest.

"Sit down, Chihiro," her mother said, not bothering to look back at her.

_Just shut up,_ she thought, pulling herself up to sit more steadily on the seat and glowering at the back of her mother's head.

She noticed something grayish nestled in the trees through the corner of her eye. When she looked over she saw that it was something like a statue or gargoyle that was shaped or sculpted rather to look like a monkey of some sort. But she couldn't really tell because in no time at all they had zoomed past it and she had to turn in her seat to look at it through the rear window. It looked like a guardian really, the way it sat in the forest overlooking the road like it did.

"You're going to kill us!" her mother cried out, gripping the armrests so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Chihiro wisely said nothing, neither agreeing with her mother nor disagreeing with her, but she definitely knew that if the idiot driver didn't get off his high then they'd end up running smack into a tree. Then they'd all die and Chihiro would never get to see her best friend ever again ... she'd never get her first kiss or go on a real date or meet a boy that didn't completely infuriate her.

"A tunnel?" came his voice, and then he suddenly hit the brakes.

Chihiro squeezed her eyes shut and braced her arms against her mother's seat to keep from flying through the windshield. Then, when the car finally stopped, she opened her eyes and saw before the hood of the small car a stone statue almost exactly like the one she'd seen in the forest scant seconds before. This one was covered in moss though, and stood like a guardian in front of the tunnel that lead through the red building a few meters in front of them.

"What's that strange building?" her mother asked, the question mirroring the thoughts Chihiro felt running through her head.

Chihiro's father opened his door and stepped out of the car, "Must be an entrance." He walked to the tunnel and looked over it, obviously trying to figure out what its purpose /really/ was.

This didn't sit well with her mother, though; in fact it didn't make her happy at all, because she stuck her head out of the open window and yelled, "Honey! Let's go back, honey!"

_Strange,_ Chihiro thought. _I wonder why a building this big would be out in the middle of nowhere like this. Wonder what it is.  
_  
So, her curiosity took over her and she too got out of the car, only noticing that she still had her flowers clutched tightly in her hand once she stood on the other side of the door. She carefully placed them on her seat, making sure not to do any more damage to them than she already had. Somehow, though, she managed to unconsciously slip the card into the pocket of her jean shorts and then hurried to her father's side.

"Chihiro!" she heard her mother call out from the car, "No ..." If she had looked back she would have seen the glower covering the middle-aged woman's face.

When she reached her father, he was running his fingers over the side of the building, flakes of red paint falling off here and there. "It's just plaster," he said finally, smiling at her, "This building's pretty new."

_Who'd have guessed?_ Chihiro wondered absently, _looks pretty old to me._ A chill ran down her spine and she felt a feeling of foreboding grow in her gut.

The two of them looked down the tunnel; a moaning sound seemed to come from further inside the darkness. Chihiro gasped softly, feeling the wind rush around her mostly uncovered legs, her shorts only covering down to her upper thighs. Leaves and dead flower petals stumbled end over end inside the mouth of the tunnel and her grayish blue eyes widened slightly.

"The wind's going in," she said mostly to herself, disliking the building more and more.

The passenger-side car door opened and closed and Chihiro could hear her mother's foot falls as she walked up to them, "What is it?"

Her father looked back at his wife, a strangely boyish grin covering his face, "Let's have a look. There's a way through."

Chihiro looked over at him, "It's creepy, Dad. Let's just go back."

"No need to be scared. Just a little farther, okay?"

_Who said scared?_ she thought, narrowing her eyes at him and tightening her mouth into a thin line, _I just said creepy, like a really big, slimy, many-legged bug._

"The moving van'll get there before us," her mother told him and Chihiro did a mental happy dance.

_Score for Mom!_

"So, let 'em, they've got the keys. Let the movers move us," he countered as if it were as simple as that.

Her mother crossed her arms loosely over her stomach, gripping the elbows of her bright pink sweater with the tips of her fingers. "I know, but ..."

"No, no, no! I'm _not_ going in there!" Chihiro told them pointedly, running back to stand in front of their small blue car, which was, consequently, right next to the moss-covered gargoyle. "Dad, I really think we should go back."

"Nothing to be scared of," he told her in a soft voice.

"I'm _not_ scared, but I _won't_ go," she said with a menacing scowl. Then she looked over at the gargoyle that stood beside her and she grimaced, clutching at the sleeves of her green and white shirt.

When she looked up, she saw that her father already heading inside and her face fell like a hammer. _Damn you, fat man ..._ she cursed him silently, holding up a proverbial fist of damnation with which to smite him.

"Chihiro, wait in the car," her mother called back to her as she followed her husband.

"Uh, bu- ..." she looked back over at the gargoyle that seemed to laugh at her rather pitiful attempts to make them listen. _I know you're up to something, so just shut up,_ she thought at it, narrowing her eyes. "Wait up!"

Chihiro ran after them despite the tingle that ran down her spine again, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. Her father looked back, an adventurous expression etched into his features.

"Watch your step," he told her before turning back and continuing on towards the rather dim light ahead of them.

At the end of the tunnel was a rather large room which seemed to resemble a train station. Several wooden benches, colored glass windows, a structure that looked like a bird-bath here and there. The bright late afternoon sun shone through the circular windows, but the building looked like it had been abandoned for years and years.

"Where are we?" Chihiro asked, looking around the large open space in wonder.

Her mother put a hand to her ear and smiled slightly, "Say, do you hear that?"

She listened for a moment hearing nothing at first, then a low whistle sounded and the whirring of metal wheels could be heard. "It's a train."

"Maybe we're near the station," her mother offered with a bright smile.

Then her father got that wild adventurous look on his face again, "Let's go and find out."

Chihiro got a really bad feeling about going any further than where they were, but since her parents were already on their way out, she might as well follow them. When they were out through the other side of the station, they were met with an open field of lush green grass. Here and there were scattered statues like the ones on the other end of the tunnel and small shacks were here and there. But when she looked around, she noticed a bunch of them off in the distance.

"What are those houses doing here?" she wondered and the wind picked up a little, ruffling her clothes and sweeping the longish hair around her face in her eyes. _I knew I shouldn't have gotten bangs,_ she thought, remembering when she had wanted them about three years ago. _Not even long enough to pull back out of my face.  
_  
"I knew it. This must be an abandoned theme park. They built so many in the early 90's, but they all went down with the economy. This must be one of 'em."

_He's a history book now,_ Chihiro thought, turning around to get a better look at the building they'd just come out of.

It looked like a square palace with a clock tower pasted on top. The roof tiles were black and the outer walls were red, the characters on the clock were done in black but the way it was made was just so ... She didn't know how to describe it, but more than anything, it was looking more and more like a beacon for far off travelers.

Her parents started to walk off again and she turned around to find them several feet away already. "What?! No! We've seen the other side now let's go back, Dad!"

But they didn't stop walking; in fact it seemed as if they hadn't even heard her at all. They just made their way on to the large group of houses in the distance, climbing up the hill without a care in the world.

"C'mon!"

The wind picked up a bit more, like it was pushing her forward and she heard the building let out a sound. It was moaning! The building was actually moaning at her. She ran forward to catch up with her parents again, though her better judgement told her not to.

"Freaky building," she said, looking back at the building from a safe distance, "It moaned."

"Sweetie, it's just the wind, you know that," her mother said, not even looking over at her. "What a lovely spot. We should have brought our lunch with us."

Chihiro stopped and her mouth fell open, _From the person who wanted to get to the house before the movers._ Then she shook her head and followed close behind her to keep from hearing other such strange things. _Since when does she like the outdoors?  
_  
Before long, the three of them were crossing a line of boulders. The rocks were covered in moss and mud and a small stream ran through the cracks as if trying to get someplace better. Chihiro stumbled over the first two, losing her balance on the slick surface. Then she huffed at them and planted her hands firmly on the largest ones she could find, trying to use them as a sort of handrail.

"They were making a river," her father noted. Then he sniffed the air, holding out an arm for his wife. "Hey, you smell that?" he asked her as she stumbled into him and sniffed at the air again. "See, smells great."

His wife followed his lead and took a sniff then smiled brightly, "You're right."

"Maybe they're still open," he said, obviously thinking out loud because that statement didn't make any sense.

_An abandoned theme park still open?_ Chihiro thought rather sarcastically, _that makes a lot of sense.  
_  
"Hurry up, Chihiro," her mother called out as they went up the stone stairs.

She was having a bit of a problem crossing, though, so it took her a while. _I'm a soccer player, not a mountain climber, damnit._

"Wait for me!" she yelled as she finally made it safely across. Then she bounded up the steps only barely noticing the moss-covered frog statue and the water stains that lead from his mouth and down the steps to the boulders.

Her father was leading the three of them, following his nose like a bloodhound through the strange town. When they got to what appeared to be a main street they stopped and he turned around and around, trying to find the source of the smell. "This way," he told them, picking a direction and heading off again.

"Can you believe it, they're all restaurants," her mother said with a voice full of awe.

_Nope, can't believe it,_ she thought, sarcasm coloring her mind again, _here they have a perfectly fine abandoned theme park and it's nothing but restaurants. Kami, what_ were _they thinking?_

But still, _was_ it abandoned? Chihiro had to wonder, because if it had been abandoned, why were the paper lanterns still intact, why weren't they just as worn as the rest of the place? The brightly colored buildings had their paint flaking off but the curtains around the entrances looked as if it had been cleaned only yesterday. The wooden stools inside weren't rotten or old; they were just ... there, looking like they were constantly kept up. Nothing in this place made sense if it was what her father had said it was.

"Where is everybody?" she wondered.

"Over there!" her father shouted a few seconds later. Then he ran on further down the street and looked around a corner. "Hey, hey!" he called to them before turning the corner and going who knows where.

Chihiro and her mother followed soon after, the aroma of whatever her father had smelt was strongest here. When she looked past him, she noticed huge platters of food, all of the dishes foreign to her. Something inside her screamed that this was a really bad idea, the same thing that had made her spine tingle and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Whatever was going on her, she had to stop it before something happened, and whatever it was that was going to happen, she knew it couldn't be good.

"In here, here," her father said, motioning to his wife and Chihiro.

Her mother followed his lead into the sit-down restaurant. "How amazing," she commented in awe, looking at all the different kinds of food.

"Excuse us, anyone here?!" her father called out, looking into the kitchen behind the counter.

"Come in, Chihiro," her mother urged taking a seat on one of the stools, "it looks delicious."

But Chihiro shook her head, shoving her hands deep into her pockets to keep from doing anything that would make the sensation in her gut any stronger.

"Excuse us!" her father called out again.

"Oh, don't worry," her mother insisted, picking up a piece of food that vaguely resembled an extremely small chicken. "We can pay them when they get back."

"You're right," he said looking on down the counter. "That one looks great ..."

"I wonder what this is called," her mother thought aloud before taking a rather large bite. "Delicious! Chihiro, taste it."

Chihiro frowned and shook her head, "I don't think so."

There was something wrong here, she knew there was. Food didn't pop up out of nowhere in an abandoned amusement park. And even if it wasn't abandoned, where were all the people? She gathered up the bottom of her shirt in her hands, twisting the fabric nervously and chewing on her bottom lip.

"Let's go," she urged, "They are _going_ to be _mad_ at us."

Her father moved down the counter, piling food on three separate plates as he went. "Don't worry, you've got me here. I've got credit cards and cash." Then he placed one of the plates in his hands in front of his wife, taking a seat on one of the stools as well before he started eating.

"Take some, Chihiro, it's so tender," her mother said, looking at her over her shoulder.

But Chihiro shook her head again, looking rather forlorn as her parents went on eating. Her father dished something out onto his plate and passed it on over to her mother, saying "horseradish" before he went right on eating.

"Thank you," she managed between bites.

Chihiro looked from left to right down the small alleyway, trying to find someone in this empty-looking place, but there was no one to be found. "Mom! Dad!!" she yelled, hands balled into fists and stomping her feet in frustration.

But they continued to eat, seeming to not have heard her at all. She let out a sigh and her whole frame just slumped. Then, looking back down to the end of the alley, she headed back to the main street.

_May as well find something to do,_ she thought angrily, _if I know them, they'll be there until Dad is full. Stupid Old People._


	2. It's Just a Dream

_**It's Just a Dream**_

_**Chapter 2**_

Chihiro looked back toward the direction she and her parents had entered the strange town, trying to find a hint of life beyond the cleanliness of the restaurants and the food that seemed to have come from nowhere. The dirt street was empty though, so she headed right, wanting to go deeper into the town to explore. But she stopped and glanced back at her parents before she shook her head and sighed.

_I've got a really bad feeling about that._

She continued on, though, making her way to the steps at the head of the main street. At the top of them sat a rather strange structure that may have been a sign or a greeting, but the kanji painted on it was ancient, a dialect she wasn't familiar with. The architecture itself was similar to the clock tower where they had come in at, so there was no doubt in her mind that this town and the clock tower somehow had something to do with each other.

For a moment she examined the old kanji, then when she glanced to her right her eyes widened. _Wow._

It was an aburaya, a huge aburaya. Similar to the clock tower in shape but much larger with green tiles on the sloped roves and large sliding doors on the sides. The entire thing was gigantic, but at the same time it looked rather squat, like a fat little person, if that made any sort of sense at all.

"Weird," she commented, walking towards the wooden bridge that connected the aburaya to the town of restaurants.

The aburaya looked to still be open despite the rather abandoned appearance of the town. Great black streams of smoke plumed from the chimney, the windows were clean, rattling in the wind. There was even a waterfall of sorts, though the water itself looked kind of gray and murky. The whole place was just strange, she decided once she was standing on the bridge and looking over the side of the railing.

Chihiro heard the scream of a train whistle and then a two-car train came chugging out of a dark tunnel in the side of the plateau which the town and aburaya sat upon. Her eyes brightened and she smiled stupidly, "There's your train, Mom."

She hurried to the other side of the bridge, standing up on the lower beam of the handrail as she watched it speed away. For a few seconds she just stood there, running the tips of her fingers over the smooth surface of the wood until she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. When she looked over she quite nearly fell down.

To her right, not but a meter and a half away stood the most gorgeous man that Chihiro had ever laid eyes upon. He was inhumanly fair, but not so much that it looked sickly, and he had the most intriguing emerald eyes; the kind of eyes that demanded your attention immediately. Once she managed to get past the shock of his eyes she noticed his clothes, nobody wore those kinds of clothes anymore. Deep blue hakama and a white yukata with a blue haori underneath, tied with a blue sash.

He gasped and moved closer to her, a look somewhere between surprise and shock covering his features. Immediately, she stood up a little straighter, blinking out of her momentary trance and halfway noticing the shadows as they shifted on the bridge behind him.

The man looked at her with an angry sort of frown, "You're not allowed here. Go Back!"

A confused expression crossed her face and she backed away from him a little as she dropped from her perch on the railing. "Wha ...?"

"It's almost dark!" he told her, still advancing, "Leave before it gets dark." Then he looked back in the direction of the aburaya, his perfectly straight dark green hair swaying as he moved. "They're lighting the lamps."

_They?_ she wondered, following his gaze, _they who, there's no one here._

But before she had the chance to voice her question he was looking at her again and had somehow managed to push her off the bridge in the direction of the town.

"Go!" he urged her. "I'll distract them. Get back across the river!"

By this time Chihiro was already halfway running back into the town, but she glanced back at him a few meters from the bridge to find that he had turned around. She noticed something white and shiny flow from in front of him before she looked where she was running again.

The neon sign for the cafe on the other side of the standing structure flickered and began to glow, the lights on the inside and the red paper lanterns around it turning on as well. She practically flew down the first half of the steps that led back to the main street, signs and interior lights and lanterns coming to life all around her as the sun set. Then she stopped on the brief landing in the center of the flight and turned to look back once more.

"What's his problem?" she asked to nobody in particular before continuing on down the steps and towards the alley shop she'd last seen her parents in, or rather, where she'd left them.

Shadow-like things began to rise up out of the ground all around her, but she either paid them no mind or didn't notice them at all. She had to get to her parents and leave this place. The shadows were everywhere, though, in the restaurants, in the streets, on the wooden stools. Wherever they came from, they were only making the bad feeling in her gut grow more and more. Something really bad was about to happen if it hadn't happened already.

"Dad!"

They were right where she'd left them, she noticed with a small sigh of relief as she skidded around the corner. But ... they looked a little different ... like they were bigger or something, and their skin looked kind of pink. That didn't matter though, what did matter was that they hadn't stopped eating long enough to notice all the strange things going on around them.

"Dad, we gotta go, let's go home," Chihiro urged, taking hold of his arm and pulling, trying desperately to get his attention. "Let's go, Dad!" she nearly growled at him in her urgency.

Then he turned to look at her and she shrieked in horror. Her father had the face of a pig, large nose, small beady eyes, and pig's ears! That explained why he looked so fat from behind, but ... he _couldn't_ be a pig, he was a person! There was no chance that this ... thing could be her father, despite the fact that it wore his clothes and sat where he had not but twenty minutes before.

She immediately let go of its arm and backed away, her eyes wide as her hair stood on end. The pig thing went back to eating, hardly taking notice of her at all. Most of the food was gone though, so it dug further into the remaining items, nudging the dishes with its long snout. Several of them fell to the ground with a crash, soy sauce running from the counter to the broken porcelain below.

_Oh Kami!_ she internally screamed, stuck between horror and disgust as she looked on. _This is insane, I've lost my mind!_

A strange whip-like sound came from behind the counter and when she looked back up she saw an arm, green, with webbed fingers and warts here and there, smack the pig-creature with a fly-swatter. It was only then that the teenage girl noticed the steam clouded kitchen, the same kitchen that had been empty when she and her parents first got there.

The pig ignored the fly-swatter, digging for food more eagerly than before until the frog-like arm hit it again and again right in its face. It fell from where it sat on the stool onto its back, landing in the food remains that were either half-eaten or had fallen when the plates did. The food flew everywhere from the impact of the pig's massive size and weight, landing a few feet away from where the pig squealed its upset.

Chihiro pushed herself up against a support beam to the overhang of the restaurant, unable to look away in her horror. Her grayish-blue eyes widened even more and she cried out, then finally pushed away from the post. "Iia!" She ran back out onto the main street, looking around desperately for any sign of her parents.

"Dad! Mom! Where are you?!"

The inhuman shadow-creatures moved up and down the street all around her, hardly noticing the presence of the slight human girl. They writhed with eyeless faces and soundless moans as they went. Some were incredibly tall, others just looked like stretched out balloons and other seemed to resemble centipedes. The last kind were the ones that frightened her the most because they were at _least_ five times her size coupled with her adamant fear of insects.

The shadows waved from behind some of the counters while others just kind of crawled here and there, the fact remained that whatever they were, they sure as hell weren't human. They were like black, featureless ghosts, only they didn't float or glide; they were completely opposite of what she'd envisioned ghosts as when she was younger.

Her heart was racing as she glanced around the street, "Mom!" Then she noticed the strange black shadow behind her and sprinted down the main street towards the clock tower, thanking Kami-sama for every brutal and agonizing soccer practice she'd ever had to endure.

_Please let them be there, please,_ she prayed.

Darting in between the shadow-creatures, she made her way to where the stone frog sat at the top of stone steps. As she skipped down them, she noticed water gushing from its mouth, but she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Her foot caught on a step and she fell forward, bracing herself for a fall down the rest of the stone steps. Instead, she fell into a body of icy water and was completely submerged. Then when she broke the surface she gasped, her skin feeling as if she was being shot through with hundreds needles over and over again.

"It's water?!" Chihiro sputtered as she tred her way back up to the steps and pulled herself out, her hands slipping on the stone of the steps.

Noticing the reflection of lights in the water, she looked across the river, clutching her arms across her chest and shivering slightly.

Then she clenched her fists into her sleeves when she saw a faerie moving slowly across the water's surface. She pounded her fists against the sides of her aching head, trying to erase what was in front of her.

"This can't be ..." but when she looked up, the lights, the river, and the faerie were all still there. "I'm dreaming, dreaming!" she declared, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, but when she opened them again, nothing had changed.

Chihiro shook her head, pressing her fists to her eyes. "Wake up! Wake up!" she crouched down, burying her face in her knees. "Wake ... up ..." Then she was rocking back and forth, "It's just a dream, a dream. Go away. Disappear."

She felt like she was going insane. Nothing that was happening to her was possible; the pigs, the frog arm, the lights, the lake, the faerie, the man with the emerald eyes ... none of it. Her stomach lurched and the need to empty what little contents contained within was overwhelming, but she couldn't just get sick all over the steps, that'd be disgusting. So, she swallowed and took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes with tingling fingers ... Wait. What was wrong with her fingers?

Looking down at her hands she gasped, they were going transparent! So she raised them up against the light of the faerie to make sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks with her. But she could see the faerie almost perfectly through her hands.

"I can see through!" she cried out in shock, trying to rub the color and solidity back into her limbs. "It's a dream, it's got to be." Then she covered her eyes with her hands and gasped her shocked frustration when she could still see through them. _Nonono!_

When she heard the boom of the faerie as it landed, she looked over cautiously. _It can't get worse,_ she thought, _it can't_ possibly _get any worse._

Then a wooden ramp came down and the doors flew open all on their own. A single sheet of white paper at a time exited the doors, floating maybe five and a half feet over the floorboards. Once they got to the ramp, strange red cloaks appeared on them, having melted into existence like wax, and then purple hat things appeared on their heads in the same manner. But it wasn't necessarily the clothes they wore, no, it was the fact that they had pieces of paper for faces and no other distinguishing features. So she backed away from them and looked down at the lake when she noticed pieces of movement out of the corner of her eye. It was those shadow-things ... they were coming out of the water!

_It's worse. It's worse!_ her mind screamed as she tried not to and she bolted up a hill, away from all the worse-ness that had decided to inflict itself upon her.

There was an old wooden fence at the top of the hill and on the other side were several old buildings, most likely the sides of the restaurants. The corner was dark and looked like no one had been around it in ages, but then, so had the train station, or rather, the faerie launch. It didn't matter, though, it was vacant and she sure as hell didn't want to see or be seen by the freakish creatures that she knew were all around the town of restaurants. There weren't any strange creatures and for that she was immensely grateful.

So she ran over to the side of the building and leaned up against the wall, breathing deeply to calm her frazzled nerves. Then the events of the day caught up to her finally and she slid down the wall and buried her face and transparent hands into her knees. She had great reason to believe that her mother and father had turned into pigs and even if they hadn't, she was all alone in the abandoned theme park. Which wasn't quite as abandoned as her father had said it was, not to mention the fact that a whole ton of weird creatures were coming in by faerie, the field was now a lake and she was disappearing. All in all, it wasn't a good day, it was actually a pretty bad day. Who was she kidding, today just plain sucked.

Chihiro sobbed silently, not knowing what to do. _I'll never be a pain in the ass again,_ she promised, _if someone will just help me get out of here in one piece, I swear I'll never be a pain in the ass again._

Almost twenty minutes later, when she'd finally given up hope of having her silent prayer answered, she felt a hand on her arm and one across her shoulders. Her head snapped up and to her surprise, she found the man from the bridge looking back at her.

"Don't be afraid, I'm a friend," he soothed, pulling her slowly closer to him.

"No, no, no," she said, her arms clasped to her chest and she was trying to back away from him.

She saw him reach into his haori and take out something that looked like a berry; he held it out to her, "Open your mouth and eat this. Unless you eat something from this world you'll disappear."

"I don't want to stay _here_!" She cried out and covered her mouth with her arms, "No, no, no."

When she tried to face mush him away with her hands, she was shocked to find that her arm went straight through. It shifted through his face and hair and she moved her fingers just to make sure it was really _her_ arm. Not a hair shifted as she did so, he wasn't affected by this at all.

_Ha! Take that you nasty physics teachers,_ she thought with a sort of sick satisfaction.

"Don't worry. It won't turn you into a pig," he told her, pressing it closer to her, his hand passing through hers and his other still on her shoulders. His fingers maneuvered past her lips gently as he pushed it into her mouth. "Chew it and swallow."

_Oh Kami that's bitter,_ she thought, squeezing her eyes shut and doing as he said, though rather unwillingly.

"Good, you're fine now."

She opened her eyes and looked at him skeptically, not quite believing that s single berry had the ability to make her solid again. Not that she even knew why she had gone into an anti-solid state to begin with.

He held his hand out with his palm facing her, "See for yourself."

Rather timidly, she touched her fingers to his palm, hoping that she wasn't being tricked. As she felt the skin of his hand she sighed in relief, looking up to see that he was still looking at her with the same stoic features, "I'm all right."

"You see?" he asked, taking hold of her hand, "Now come." He stood, pulling her with him.

But she pulled her hand back, "What's going on? Where are my parents? They didn't _really_ turn into pigs ... did they?"

The man looked down at her, "You can't see them now, but you will." Then he narrowed his eyes and looked off into the sky as if he were searching for something.

_What are you looking for?_ she wondered curiously, though a bit annoyed that he hadn't even bothered to give her a real answer to her question. A rather confused expression crossed her face and she glanced up to see what it was he was trying to find.

Suddenly, he crouched down in front of her, hiding her from whatever it was that he had seen.

"Wha ...?"

"Quiet!"

Then she saw it, a black bird with the head of a woman that wore her hair in a huge puffy bun, an enormous monstrosity of a bun actually. How the hell could she fly with that thing on top of her head like that? The face was hideous, though, sharp and terrifying features, not to mention the mouth full of jagged teeth. She inhaled sharply, fighting the urge to scream in her all-consuming horror.

The man pulled her closer as he pressed their bodies up against the wall of the building behind them, his left arm across her shoulders and his right braced against the building. Her heart beat sped up dangerously at the closeness that she'd never been bothered by from a boy before ... it shouldn't be so different. The man hiding her couldn't be any more than two years older than she ... so he was more of a young man if she thought about it. Thinking, however, was now out of the question, though, he was so damn close to her ... And just as she forgot how to breathe, the bird-thing flew off, the green eyed man watching it until it was no longer visible.

He pulled away from her a little, "It's looking for you."

_Say WHAT?!_ she so desperately wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.

But he stood suddenly, his telepathy obviously needing some work, trying to pull her up with him. "There's no time, let's run."

Chihiro pulled herself up, or at least she tried to, but when she found she couldn't she looked disbelievingly at her legs. "Of all the times to fall asleep ... this is impossible." It wasn't the same though, she could tell after she noticed that there wasn't a tingling feeling of numbness, they just wouldn't work. "What the ... I-I can't move!"

He crouched back down in front of her and looked directly into her eyes, startled grayish-blue against calm jade. "Calm now. Take a deep breath."

She gave him a well-how-the-hell's-that-supposed-to-help look, "What ... why?"

"Do as I say," he told her, as if he wasn't to be questioned and that's just the way it was.

And resisting the urge to punch him right in his pretty face, she did as he said, inhaling deeply. Not at all believing it would work for the first half of a second, but then she remembered that was the exact same thing she'd thought about the berry. What could it hurt? Besides, he'd done nothing to deserve her skepticism, so she'd trust him ... a little. It wasn't like he'd turn into a dragon and eat her or anything.

The green eyed young man extended his hand and ran it over her leg, making it feel warm and something akin to butter or jelly-like. "In the name of the wind and water within thee ..." he spoke and his hand took on a bluish glow. "Unbind her. Get up!"

She blinked, rather surprised that she didn't feel and different, and she was about to ask if she was supposed to but he pulled her up into a standing position. _I guess it worked, then,_ she thought.

Then he started running at what felt to her like the speed of sound. The wind was rushing through Chihiro and she could have sworn that she heard it as they passed. Together, they headed down a dark alleyway toward the metal door at the end with red writing on it that she didn't have the opportunity to read. The man waved his hand and the door opened all on its own just before they ran into it.

_Now that was odd,_ she thought as the door shut again behind them.

The room beyond the door was full of huge barrels which were filled with ginormous rocks of which she couldn't fathom a use for. The man practically drug her down a flight of wooden stairs and past several enormous black jugs with red coverings over the lids. Then they were in the butchery and she thought she was going to be sick. She'd never been good in dealing with surroundings like that. It wasn't the blood, no, blood didn't bother her at all. She'd had enough cut knees and skinned arms during the soccer seasons to last her a lifetime. It was the cut up animal sides hanging from hooks and chains in the ceiling that really bothered her; for some reason, it just made her sick to her stomach.

There were giant fish sides here and there, sides of pork and Kami knew what else. And the next second she felt like she was going to freeze. They were in a large freezer, full of frozen fish and other sorts of things. When they ran through the door that lead out, it too closed behind them all on its own.

_This is getting really weird now._

Not that a freezer or butchery was weird, but the contents were. Where the hell did one find fish that big? Some of the fishermen back home ... not that it was _home_ anymore ... would love to get a catch that big. Of course, this entire place was odd, maddeningly strange, and a bit unnerving all in the same ten minutes. She'd give just about anything right now to be back in her father's little blue Audi, listening to the Miyavi CD, and on her not-so-merry way to the house her family had been forced to move to given their financial situation. If her father had just gotten a normal desk job, it would all have been all right. But noooo, he had to become a job contractor for demolition and construction. Drain the river, build apartments, tear down the apartments, build a shrine, tear down the shrine and build more apartments.

"It's a new job in Tochinoki," he'd said, "it's not that far."

Oh but it was, it was far enough that he'd decided the night after that they had to move so the commute would be shorter. If he would have just left the damn river what's-it-called alone, then they would still be at home. Not in this abandoned amusement park that's really not abandoned because, oh yeah, these weird things that look like shadows pop up out of the ground and then pig-things are just randomly sitting on stools at the restaurant where her parents had been eating, and let's not forget that the field had turned into a lake with the faerie and the things that came out with nothing but sheets of paper for faces.

Before she knew it, they were running through a huge pig pen, filled with enormous pigs which squealed at them as they passed. They lights from the ceiling illuminated their pink skin and Chihiro gasped.

There were hundreds of them, all crammed into the separate pens together like sardines in a can. That couldn't possibly be comfortable, not at all. It did, in fact, look incredibly uncomfortable. Then she vaguely wondered if the pigs she'd seen at the restaurant were in there, and despite the fact that she looked from one to another, she couldn't tell any of them apart. They were all the same. As the man lead her to the exit on the other side of the pens, she noticed where he was taking her and wanted to pull away so she could run back the way they had come.

_He's taking me back to the aburaya?! _she internally screamed, the lights glowing sharply inthe distance. _He's lost his mind, didn't he tell me to get away from there?_


	3. Finding Work at the Aburaya

_**Finding Work at the Aburaya  
Chapter 3**_

Chihiro snatched her arm out of the young man's grip, a determined look covering her features. "Hold on one damn minute," she demanded, fairly glaring at him when he turned to look at her. "I want to know just what the _hell_ is going on, and I'm not going one step further until you tell me."

" ... " and he narrowed his eyes, looking down at her as if she were nothing more than mud stuck to the bottom of his sandals.

She huffed in annoyance and turned toward the pig pens, _I'll swim across that damn river if I have to,_ and started walking.

But a firm hand took hold of her wrist once more and pulled so sharply that she was turned in an instant. Then the young man grabbed both her shoulders and shook her once, twice and then leveled his eyes with hers. "The spirits in the water would kill you as soon as you dove in," he told her, his voice devoid of any emotion.

Chihiro wasn't about to let him push her around, though, even if he was the most gorgeous- _Don't even think it,_ she chided herself. "What the hell is this place? I'm sick of this ..."

"You're in the spirit world," he told her matter-of-factly.

Chihiro's body went rigid and her eyes wide, "The ... the s-spirit world?" she asked him in more of an unbelieving whisper, but he didn't answer. Instead he took hold of her wrist once more and proceeded to almost drag her to the wooden gate not ten meters from where she had decided to stop. Not seeming to care that she was astonished beyond belief at what he'd just revealed to her.

_Ooooh, bad day,_ she thought as they neared the garden.

"Hold your breath while we're on the bridge," he told her, reaching over to unlock the gate. "Even a tiny breath will break the spell and the attendants will see you."

She watched as he opened the gate and stood there, waiting expectantly for her to move through it, which she did in an extremely hesitant manner. Once they were in the garden he closed the gate once more and they headed towards the bridge, emerging on the main walk just near the huge sign with the ancient kanji on it. Chihiro took hold of his arm despite her better judgment and obvious dislike of the aggravatingly vague man, but he didn't seem to notice, he just lead her towards the bridge and all the strange creatures crossing it.

_I've got a really bad feeling about this,_ she thought as the foreboding feeling in her gut rose its ugly head once again and grasped the man's arm tighter, pressing herself up against it in utter horror at the sight before her.

"Be calm," he told her in what could have passed for a soothing tone, but with him she couldn't be sure, every tone he used sounded the same, like he didn't have any emotions.

When they finally emerged from the garden they were met with two frogs holding paper lanterns and calling out "Welcome! Always nice to see you," in sort of awkward nasal voices. "Welcome, welcome."

"I'm back from my task," the man said as they walked past them, not sparing them a glance.

"Welcome back, sir," they replied with a small bow.

_Sir?_ Chihiro wondered, cocking an eyebrow at him, _just who the hell_ are _you, buddy?_

"A deep breath ..." he said, interrupting her thoughts. She inhaled deeply, finding the very idea of a single breath disrupting a "spell" absolutely ridiculous, but doing so anyway. "And hold ..."

She covered her mouth and nose with one hand, the other still holding the man's arm in a death grip and two strides later they were on the bridge, walking behind something that looked like it was covered with a yellow blanket with a red swirl pattern embroidered into it and a bucket on what she supposed was its head to keep the cloth from falling off. She almost right out laughed when they passed a few creatures that looked like huge rubber duckies waddling on small orange feet. Then, when they were half way across, she noticed a creature like the shadows she'd first seen on the main street, only it was tallish and wore a white mask that looked more like something out of "The Crow" with the red streaks above and below the eye slots. And as they passed it, the creature looked after Chihiro, turning as she moved. But the young man was completely unphased by it, so she shook off the urge to go up to the thing and poke it ... just to see if it was made out of jello or some such ridiculous thing.

_Wonder why it can see me and no one else can?_ she wondered briefly, nearing the end of the bridge.

At the end stood four or five women with long large faces in red yukata and white hakama, they were nearly gushing over the weird creatures as they passed. "Welcome back!" they said simultaneously to four identical creatures that looked like they came right out of the Where the Wild Things Are story book, "We missed you!"

_Yeah, I just bet you did,_ she thought to herself, _ bunch of pansy, long-faced … weirdoes._

"Hang on, we're almost- " came the voice from the man she was walking with, but then a smaller, nearly regular-sized frog ran up to them when they were almost off the bridge completely.

_What the hell is _wrong_ with this place?!_ she wanted to scream, the overload on her reality sensors nearly driving her crazy. The creatures and now the frogs ... she _had_ to be losing her mind.

"Haku-sama!" it cheered as it jumped up at him, "Where have you ... "

Unknowingly, Chihiro had gasped when it jumped up, then quickly covered her mouth again, _Oh shit!_

The miniature frog, or what was miniature in the alternate reality that she'd been thrown into, landed deftly, looking up at her in complete confusion. "Wha ... A human?" then he jumped up and looked her right in the face, like he was trying to discern if she were really standing there or not.

Haku, as the frog had called him, took a slight step back then raised his right hand and a sort of translucent black bubble popped up surrounding the kaeru. "Run!" he said, grabbing her hand and darting around the stunned and floating kaeru. To her astonishment, they almost flew past the slugs, who cried out "What?" and laughed as the wind from their passing blew up their clothes.

In a second flat, they were in front of a small door in a white terrace, Haku opened it and she immediately took the hint to go inside, he followed soon after then closed the door lightly. Before she knew it, they were running through yet another garden, only this time, it was right outside of the Aburaya, stopping when they reached a group of bushes just near a sliding door. From the inside came voices, most likely more frogs and slugs, calling out, "Haku-sama! Haku-sama! Chase after it! A human intruder. I smell humans! The stench of humans!"

Haku had placed an arm around her shoulders again and she sat with her knees tucked close to her chest. "They know you're here," he said distantly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking over at him then stopped midway and looked at the bush instead. _He's helped me without even knowing who I am,_ she thought, somewhat ashamed of the way she'd acted towards him since she had first met him. _If he's as important as I think he is, he could probably get into a lot of trouble helping me ..._

"No, Chihiro, you did well," he said, capturing her gaze with his own.

She shook her head, "No, not just that, I wanted to apologize for how rude I've been, and well … I'm sorry."

He nodded once and that was the end of it. "Listen and I'll tell you what to do," he explained, his face moving closer to hers as he spoke and she couldn't help but think about just how easy it would be to kiss him just then.

_Traitorous teenage hormones,_ she cursed, mentally beating the thought out of her head.

"Stay here and they'll find you. I'll distract them, in the meantime, you escape."

She waited a moment, weighing her few options, "Couldn't you stay with me, I don't know if I can do this on my own."

"You have no choice, if you want to survive here and save your parents, too."

She backed away from him a little, looking off into the bushes again. "So they did turn into pigs ... I wasn't dreaming ..."

Haku placed his hand on her forehead, a pale blue glow emintating form where he touched her skin. "Be still," he said and she looked up at him with an inquisitive gaze. "When things quiet down, go out the back gate."

Then to her astonishment, she saw a wooden gate much like the one they had crawled into this garden through, in her mind. His voice was ethereal now, too, as he spoke to her, images appearing like ripples in water. This door was surrounded by blooming azalea bushes, then it opened all on its own to show her a landing just outside of it and a long flight of wooden stairs leading down. "Take the stairs, all the way down," and as the view descended it sped up until she saw a metal door with a light over and to the right of the top and a few pipes with steam drifting from them. "Until you reach the boiler room, where they stoke the fires," the door opened to reveal a hall full of more steaming pipes with a glowing yellow-red light at the end of the short hallway. "Kamaji's there, so look for him," Hake told her finally, taking his hand from her forehead.

She killed the urge to shake her head, his hand had been deathly cold even before whatever magic he'd been using was out into play. "Kamaji?"

He nodded once, "Ask him for work. Even if he refuses, insist. If you don't work," he said nearing her again."Yubaba will turn you into an animal."

_Hot water woman?_ she thought, nearly laughing at the irony of it. "Who's Yubaba?"

"You'll see. She's the sorceress who rules our world. Kamaji will turn you away, trick you into leaving, but keep asking him for work. It'll be hard work, but it will give you a chance. Then even Yubaba can't harm you."

_I think I just hit a God-mode cheat, just then._ But on the outside she was worried, who turned people into animals, it was complete overkill, why not just tell them to leave and be done with the whole thing? "If you say so ..."

Then the voices from inside rose again, "Haku-sama! Haku-sama!" they yelled, running around obviously searching for him.

Haku looked back at the door, "I have to go." He gazed back at her and she nodded with a slight smile, acknowledging that she understood. "Remember, Chihiro, I'm your friend," he said standing.

"How do you know my name? This is the second time you've called it, but I never told you what it was."

"I've known you since you were small," he explained, his dark green hair falling about his shoulders as he leaned towards her. "My name is Haku," then he let go of her hands and turned to walk into the building. "Here I am."

A frog from inside opened the sliding doors to let him in and Chihiro mentally shuddered at the sound of its nasal voice. "Haku-sama, Yubaba wants you."

From her place in the group of bushes, Chihiro watched the exchange, _What's she want with him I wonder?_ Then she ducked back into the bushes and waited ... hoping that whoever the Yubaba woman was, that she wouldn't turn her into an animal.

"I know. It's about my task," she heard Haku say before the sound of the door shutting muffled any further conversation coming from the inside.

Chihiro remained for a moment longer, pressing her knees against her closed eyes and her hair draped around her like a curtain, then she laughed lightly to herself. _Please tell me they don't dance around with fans._ Then she moved towards where Haku had shown her the door to the stairs was located and opened it as quietly as she possibly could, trying to keep from drawing any attention to herself. She crawled out and then closed it behind her, then turned and pressed her back up against the wall as she noticed that there wasn't any kind of railing.

_You have_ got _to be kidding me!_ she wanted to scream, _Okay, Chihiro, it's okay, besides, if you die now then at least you're going to heaven because you haven't been a pain in anyone's ass ... lately ... in the past forty-five seconds ... You may just want to try to stay alive until you redeem yourself._

_Yes, Chihiro, thank you for the vote of confidence._

_You're very welcome. Oh and by the way, good luck with the stairs, they look like a killer, _then she heard the other Chihiro walk off cackling to herself.

_Beautiful,_ she thought, _absolutely beautiful._

Then with a heaving sigh she took hold of the wooden patterns on the wall and edged along it towards the stairs. As she inhaled a calming breath the train passed below and she couldn't help but watch it as it chugged on down the tracks. She then decided that the train was mocking her, it had to have been, because no train goes by when a person is trying not to look down because they're going down a very steep flight of stairs, oh and did I mention that there were no handrails and the wall ended at the second step? Must have forgotten ... ho crap.

_This sucks,_ she thought, sinking down to the wooden planks of the floor and slid to the first step, the wind blowing her longish hair back. She inched her way down to the next step, scooting from one to another in a sitting position, moving her legs down to the third step, her rear end to the second step. _Well, now,_ she decided, _this isn't too bad, maybe I'm just being childish._

Then she stood up and stepped onto the fourth stair, testing the sturdiness by shifting her weight from one foot to the other. When she was satisfied Chihiro snorted, "See, I wasn't scared, not for a minute."

She stepped down onto the fifth step and it splintered, giving out under her weight, and she screamed as she crashed down the remaining steps of that flight, until she was able to stand up again. But even standing up she wasn't able to stop from running; she ran and ran, crying out almost hysterically as she realized that she would either run off the edge of the stairs or into a wall. It was the latter that seemed was going to occur though, because a rather solid-looking wall was coming up rather quickly and she was still having some trouble with the breaks.

Chihiro ran smack into the wall, the familiar sound of something within her breaking resounded in her ears and she just knew she wasn't going to be able to function properly in the morning. But hey, she was still alive, that _had_ to be a plus ... of some sort. Then she heard the sound of a window opening and voices following soon after and she looked up to see a kaeru poking his head out to exhale smoke from a cigarette. She could feel herself going stiff again, trying to get some reasonable form of sanity into her psyche was going to prove difficult after this trip, she knew it would. She inched around the corner into the shadows, hoping against hope that it wouldn't see her and alert all its freaky friends of her presence. Who knew, maybe the cigarette smoke was keeping it from smelling her, because according to the things that had been looking for Haku and herself while they were in the garden, they could smell her.

_I don't smell that bad, besides, at least_ I'm _not a frog ... or a slug,_ she thought with an indignant snigger as she proceeded down the rest of the stairs. _What's up with th__e lady turning people into animals, though? Harsh much ... geeze, maybe she's got some sort of superiority complex ... gotta be prettier and better than everyone else. Like I don't know a few people like that. Wonder if Dad and Mom are alright ..._

And on her thoughts went until she had finally reached the final flight, her aching legs threatening to give out beneath her due to the sustained abuse over the past thirty minutes. She hopped down the last three stairs, fairly put out that they were the only ones that had a railing of _any_ sort, and turned to see the metal door with the light over and to the right of the top, just as Haku had shown her. She whistled in a low tone and smiled slightly, impressed that he'd been absolutely right about where it was.

_Well, duh, Kami knows just how long he's lived here ... I wouldn't wanna live here, freak the hell outta me._

Chihiro put a hand up against the cool, rusted metal door and gazed inside through the small square window, but the glass was fogged up and all she could make out was a faintly glowing yellow-red light surrounded by darkness. A slight look of indecision crossed her features for a moment but still she turned the knob, the door swinging open towards her with a faint creak. She looked around the inside and found pipes of various sizes all with a reading instrument of some sort on the front and steam spilling from the seams like gravity-defying waterfalls. Closing the door behind herself, she headed inside, a slightly queasy feel playing through her chest and stomach.

There was a room beyond the hallway of pipes, it was full of an orangish-yellow light that casted multi-toned dancing shadows on a wall that looked like it was made of drawers. It was then that she noticed a small white sink up against the short wall on the right, near the pipes. Above it was a small rectangular mirror, a mop in a metal pail and a single bare bulb light hanging down from the ceiling next to a cloth which was drying on a hangar suspended by a line running from the wall to the pipe closest to it.

_At least I know someone lives here,_ she reassured herself with a slightly nervous laugh, grasping her elbow as she crossed her arms against her ribcage.

Inching towards the other room, the sound of metal clanging and the small grinding sound became louder, the former almost deafening. The heat and smell of something burning grew in intensity as well, but that was typical, she supposed, it _was_ a boiler room after all. When she peeked around the corner of the wall, the first thing to catch her attention was a huge furnace, spitting flames from several flues at the top. Then she noticed smallish black things scurrying back and forth, carrying blocks of shining black stone, and she cocked an eyebrow at them, half amused by the sight. And finally her gaze fell to a bald old man with a huge mustache and small sunglasses, he was grinding something at a wooden station near the furnace.

_Bet you a thousand yen that's him,_ she thought to the "other" Chihiro, and despite her earlier smart-assed-ness, she didn't answer. _Pansy ..._

A kettle, yellow and old-looking, sat just behind him on the wooden frame and a bowl of the same color sat at the front, empty save for a pair of hashi and a blue cup. On the side facing her, there were three large, clear jugs with contents she couldn't begin to guess at, except for the fact that they looked like dried-out plants of some sort or another. The station itself was conveniently facing the readout dials on the furnace and then she noticed a small red tag with a fat black stripe running through the top hanging from the ceiling by a purple ribbon.

She shook her head slightly, a little confused at the whole scene and watched the little black creatures a little longer. They were running back and forth from the holes under the wall of drawers to the furnace, carrying the black blocks. When they threw the blocks into the hole that opened and closed via a metal grate, she surmised that what they were carrying had to be coal ... they sure as hell couldn't be throwing obsidian into a furnace ... that'd be such a waste. Then the old man moved and her eyes were immediately drawn to the movement.

Two arms came from around his stomach, he must have been crossing them because she hadn't seen them there earlier, and he grabbed some red material from the middle jug that she'd noticed earlier. Spreading it onto the grinding stone as he scratched his head he continued with the monotonous motion of turning the materials into what she guessed was a fine powder. She gulped and her eyes widened a little as he pulled back a handle and two _more_ arms came out, the left one spinning a metal wheel for a few turns. A ding came from a bell somewhere around where he sat and he kept on working, seemingly oblivious to her presence completely.

Chihiro grasped her shirt in her fingers and backed away from the strange sight, hiding behind the corner again. A plume of steam puffed from one of the pipes and she spun around instantly, her oversized shirt billowing as her hair settled to the middle of her back. She let out a sigh as she remembered what Haku had said then turned back to see the old man stop spinning the wheel and bang a small gavel against the wood of his station. The small black creatures all headed back into the holes beneath the wall of drawers, even the ones that had already started coming out again with coal in hand.

She peeked out again to see him still grinding and then hesitantly moved forward, one foot at a time. _Just relax, Chihiro, he's not scary, he just looks like a big six-legged spider-man ..._ Taking a deep breath, she resigned herself to face up and ask the man ... spider ... person, for a job, she needed one if she was going to save her parents, damnit.

"Excuse me," she called out, her voice sounding more sure than she felt.

He glanced over at her and picked up the kettle with one of the hands that wasn't occupied with some task or another, and took a swig of its contents before looking back down at his work.

Her eye twitched in annoyance, _Okay then ... at least he didn't try to eat me or anything_. She stepped down off the hardwood floor onto the packed dirt ground and made her way over to him. "Excuse me, sir, are you Kamaji?"

"Hunh?" he grunted, looking over at her then back at what he was doing, brushing the contents from the grinding stone into what looked to her like a box or pipeline. When he was apparently finished with that, he moved to get a closer look at her.

She stood firm, her fingers finally releasing the fabric of her shirt, the other holding onto her elbow still. "Haku sent me. I'd like to work here."

Just as the last word left her mouth, four more tags fell from the slot in the ceiling with a clanking and a tingling ring. The old man looked back at them, "Darn, all at once ..." Gathering them in his hands, he grumbled and picked up his gavel again as he looked back towards where the little black creatures had disappeared, smacking it against the metal wheel a few times. "Get to work, you little runts."

Chihiro's eyebrows lowered in her confusion, _Buh~wha?_ she wondered, looking back to her right.

"I'm ... Kamaji," the old man said, spinning the metal wheel and grabbing more of the red material, spreading it onto the grinding stone. "Slave to the boilers that heat the baths," he continued, scooping up more and more of the different materials from jugs the she couldn't see on the other side of the wooden station, spreading them onto the grinding stone as well. "Step on it, runts!"

"I hate to be rude, but please let me work here. I need a job," she said over the loud thudding of the metal grate and Kamaji's grinding.

He looked back at her, still working, "I've got all the help I need. The place is full of soot. Plenty of replacements."

As he turned back to his work her face dropped into a look of utter confusion, _Soot? Replacements? Well … something is _definitely_ wrong with him ... not enough sunlight or something ..._ Then she looked back to see the creatures carrying coal to the furnace again. _Wait a second ..._ they're _the soot!_

The many little soot balls carted the blocks of coal to the furnace and tossed them from a ledge into the opening, hurrying back once their load was gone to get more. Then she felt something bump into her ankle and she glanced down to see a block of coal running repeatedly into her ankle, obviously hinting that she was in the way. She scooted her foot away and still more came up, bumping into her ankles, not intelligent enough to just go around. Though _way_ they had to walk up into the corner she was standing in was completely beyond her.

"Hold on just a second," she told them as they continued to gather around her feet. Sidestepping along the edge of step up to the hardwood floor, she made her way to the wall of drawers and stood, shaking her head, _For walking soot balls, they're not all that smart. I mean come on, I know they're just soot but-_

As she looked over, one of Kamaji's arms stretched impossibly towards her and motioned for her to move when she just stood there with a stupid look on her face. "Outta the way!"

She kind of half sat, half laid on the hardwood floor as he opened the drawer and scooped out some of the material, then closed it before reaching into another, higher drawer to scoop out a different material. His arm retracted back towards the station he was working at and he spread the materials onto the grinding stone, not once halting his progress. He pulled on two of the purple ribbons and they shot back up into the slot in the ceiling, but Kamaji kept on working.

Chihiro sat down on the hardwood floor with a sigh, _I'm not gonna give up_ that _easily, Kamaji-san._ She smiled in her own bout of determination and crossed her arms before placing them on her legs to wait until he wasn't as busy. _I can wait as long as you can work, I guarantee that._

The spider-like man worked amazingly, though, she decided. He never once stopped what he was doing, just kept on, like an energizer battery or something of the sort. _Must be kinda nice having six arms,_ she thought, _if you're gonna do this kind of work in this kinda place. I mean, hell, he can't have much of a social life ... but then neither do I so I guess it's alright._ She laughed lightly to herself, _I know_ I'd _like to have six arms sometimes. I wonder if the Yubaba made him like this ... if she did then she seriously sucks._

The grinding stopped for a moment and she looked over immediately, thinking it was her chance to ask him for a job again. He looked like he was brushing the powder from the grinding stone into the pipeline again and she started to get up. But then he turned the wheel again and grabbed more materials, setting out to start grinding them into a fine powder again, so she sat back down.

_Oh, yeah, this Yubaba lady_ really _sucks. I haven't even met her yet and I hate her._


	4. Meeting Yubaba

_**Meeting Yubaba  
Chapter 4**_

A waiting game was what this had turned into, and patience was not her virtue. The soot balls carried coal to the furnace, threw it into the gaping mouth and hurried back under the wall of drawers to start the process all over again. _How monotonous, _was all she could bring herself to think as the rested her chin on her hands, watching them work. Her head was starting to pound, though, and she found herself growing more and more agitated as the minutes ticked by, one soot ball after another.

When she followed the movements of one of them racking back, she noticed another as is struggled out with a lump of coal, moving slowly under the enormous weight above it. Then the little soot ball stopped all together and the lump of coal fell the two or so inches to the dirt floor. Its limbs writhed from below the coal, waving out and struggling, squealing in its high-pitched voice. She looked to the others as they carried their burdens or raced back to fetch more, but they ignored the one that had fallen out. Then it stopped moving completely and she couldn't help but feel a little sorry for it, after all, it _was_ just a ball of soot, it didn't ask to have to work the way it did.

_Poor little guy, _she thought, standing up from her position on the ledge.

The other workers kept passing the lone piece of coal, so she picked it up, surprised at the weight of the mineral and they all stopped and looked at her. _Holy crap, heavy_, she thought to herself, but looked to see if the squashed soot ball was all right. It popped up out of the stain it had left on the ground, eyes wobbling and crossed as it re-gained its bearing. Then it floated up around her calves and made a mad dash to the space below the drawers.

_Hey, _she thought, taken aback at the critter's sudden disappearance, _little turn-skirt._

Chihiro noticed the other workers again, watching her to see what she would do. So she held up the coal, now struggling a little with the weight, "Um… What should I do with this?" she asked, holding it up slightly for them to see whilst she looked to them for any indication of an answer.

Then, as if broken from a trance, they continued on with what they were doing, either carrying the coal to the furnace or rushing back for more of the same. Her eyebrows lowered in confusion, she was tempted to just drop the damn heavy thing and sit back down, continue to duke it out with Kamaji in the waiting game.

"Do I just leave it?" she half wondered to herself, still standing up with the coal in her hands and watching for a reaction from the workers.

Kamaji turned, looking at her from his perch but continuing to work away. "Finish what you start!" he demanded in a gruff voice, almost daring her to put the lump damn and ignore it.

She started a little, surprised that he would act like he was mad at her when all she had done was try to help, but she squared her shoulders and looked at the weight in her hands. _Well damn me for trying to help, why don't you? Asshole._ And as she slowly made her way to the furnace, the soot balls stopped again, watching her as she struggled with the lump. They moved out of her way as she came up behind them, followed as she passed them, and when she stopped by Kamaji's box and the huge jars of herbs to adjust her grip, they all started to move with her, as if they had finally figured out that she wasn't going to quit or try to push it off on them.

Then she finally came up to the furnace, the soot balls in front of her throwing their load into its gaping maws just in time for the lid to slam shut again. The heat poured out, pushing her hair back and sending sparks drifting closer and closer to her face as she stood on the ledge. She scooted further up the ledge, watching in awe as the noticed the bubbling liquid all around the huge metal structure. She took a deep breath, almost suffocating on the thick air, tossed the coal in the furnace and ran back behind the stone wall that extended out from Kamaji's work area, shielding it from the heat flowing out of the furnace's mouth.

"Hot!" she yelped, shaking her hands to cool them from the residing heat.

There came a small thud from beside her and the sounds of a squealing soot ball and she looked over to find just that. The little creature was wriggling and squirming under the weight and a confused look crossed the girl's face as both she and Kamaji watched it.

_Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me._

She could almost see the little light bulbs power on as the other soot balls caught on to what the first was doing. Then they all started dropping their coal and squashing themselves with it, waving out with their arms and legs. The other workers all moved around her, dropping their coal, too.

Kamaji slammed his gavel down repeatedly on the wooden box, waving a fist around in the air, "Hey, you little runts! Wanna turn back into soot?!" Then turned on her, fist still raised in the air, "And you, watch it. You can't take someone else's job." He waved the gavel at her, "If they don't work the spell wears off. Got no work for you hear," and the old man glanced back into his shop, at the soot balls. "Look elsewhere."

Then the workers all stood up with their respective pieces of coal, making angry noises with their high-pitched voiced, and lifting their load up and down, as if they were shaking them at her. They advanced on her, dropping the lumps around her feet until she had a steadily growing pile around her legs. She wasn't sure what to do, she couldn't very well swat them away, and then she'd have to carry all the coal because she'd have killed all of the old man's help.

"Hey," Chihiro exclaimed, trying to get their attention, "Oh, come on now. Is that really necessary?"

"You soot balls got a problem?" Kamaji grumbled, leaning over the edge of the box, "Get to work! To work!" he yelled, waving his arms up in the air.

The sound of wood sliding over wood barely registered to her as she stood, back flat against the wall; the soot balls still piling their coal high around her knees now. "Chow time!" came a feminine voice from behind where Kamaji worked and she looked up, not knowing whether to ask for help or try and hide. "What? You guys at it again?" and then the slamming of what she could only guess was a hidden door, because she hadn't seen one when she was over there before.

There were footfalls that came closer and Kamaji turned to the other side, reaching for something. "Cut it out. Where's your bowl?" the voice asked as the old man took hold of something with one hand and set an empty light green bowl on the tray with another. "I keep telling you to leave it out."

"Meal time!" he yelled out, pulling on the tabs a few times before they flew back where they came from. "Take a break!"

The soot balls all jumped out from the coal pile, bouncing over to the ledge that she had previously been sitting on. A girl maybe a little older than her walked up to them as they gathered around, bouncing up and down as she threw what Chihiro could only guess were sprinkles to them from a wooden pail. She had long, strait brown hair, maybe a little longer than hers, and wore pink hakama and yukata and a blue apron, bound back to keep out of her way as she moved.

The soot balls grabbed up as many of the sprinkles as they could, squealing with glee as they continued bouncing around. Chihiro laughed a little at that, not being able to help herself because, come on, that was funny. Then the other girl glanced over and saw her, and her face dropped into an expression of total shock and she stopped moving completely. And suddenly she was on her feet, pointing an accusing finger at Chihiro.

"A human! You're in trouble! They're having a fit about it upstairs!"

_It? _She wanted to retort,_ Who're you calling an 'it', sister?_

"That's my granddaughter," Kamaji told her, stuffing his face with a huge breaded shrimp.

_Granddaughter? _Chihiro almost got whiplash she turned her head so fast to look at him, hardly sure whether he were seriously going to try and pull it off or not.

"Granddaughter?" the other girl asked her stance not quite as accusatory anymore as she grew unsure of herself.

"She says she wants to work," another bite, "but I've got all the help I need." Another bite and then he looked back at the girl, "Would you take her to Yubaba? The girl can handle her, I'm sure."

The other girl threw more sprinkles out to the soot balls, "Not a chance! And risk my life!?"

Kamaji extended what looked to Chihiro to be a burnt lizard on a stick; she could see the girl's resolve waver. "Take this, then. A roasted newt." He twisted it around in front of her, "Real quality." Then he turned back to Chihiro, "If you want to work, you'll have to make a deal with Yubaba. Might as well try your luck."

The girl in pink grabbed the lizard-on-a-stick from the hand extended out in front of her, "Fine! You there, follow me." She dumped the rest of the sprinkles out onto the ground and the soot balls had a field day, grabbing up as many as they could.

Chihiro jolted back, "Say what?" lifting her feet from the coal pile and sauntering over to the other girl. _Just who does she think I am? 'You there',_ she thought, without the guts to say it out loud, lest she resend her offer. _What the crap, man, what the crap._

The girl was too busy collecting the bowl and tray to notice, though, and when she looked at Chihiro again she put a hand on her hip, "Can't you even manage a 'Yes, ma'am' or 'Thank you'?"

Chihiro closed her eyes and took a breath, _This broad. _Then she just said it, for the sake of not being a pain in the ass just as she had promised she would. "Yes, ma'am." Oh was this gonna take some getting used to.

"You sure are slow. Hurry," she said, walking back towards the little wooden door, pail in hand.

"Yes, ma'am," Chihiro retorted, bound and determined to get on this girl's nerves as politely as she could. She slipped off her shoes and socks before hurrying to catch up with the girl.

"What do you need your shoes for?! Or socks!"

She narrowed her eyes, her left twitching slightly. "Yes, ma'am." The soot balls all gathered around as she leaned over, perhaps to see if there were any more sprinkles, and moved as she set her shoes down. They gathered around them tightly, looking at them. Then she walked over to the door, ducking under the drawers to get to it before the girl looked back out and stopped her.

"Did you even thank Kamaji? He's looking out for you."

_Oh, right._ So she quickly turned back around, smacking her head soundly on the bottom of the drawers and falling to her knees as she put her hands to where she just knew was going to be a bump in the morning. "Thank you very much, sir," she said, bowing respectfully.

Kamaji gave her a thumbs-up with one hand, another still holding onto his food. "Good luck," and he went back to eating.

She got up quickly and followed the girl into what looked to be a wash room. They made their way to a storage area with more of the hugs jugs covered with cloth and surrounded by boxes just as big, if not bigger.

"Yubaba lives way up at the top," the girl told her, quickening her pace, "in the back."

They moved through a room full of gears and pulleys, which moved the elevators far above them. Chihiro looked up at the weights as they counter-balanced the lifts themselves, moving up and down on thick ropes.

"Get over here," the girl called to her, clearly growing agitated at Chihiro's dawdling.

_Go kick rocks,_ she thought, rushing to the elevator that the girl was standing in. She pulled a lever and up they went, passing frogs as they carried trays of food down the hallways of the lower levels and slugs with sake waiting for the frogs to catch up. They hollered yelled, "Get this", "I need that", "Guest such-and-such is waiting for another".

They went further and further until the lift stopped and they came out across from a hallway that looked to be nothing more than sliding doors with circles of flowers painted on them. The other girl stuck her head out, making sure the way was clear and then Chihiro followed as she waved her forward. They turned more corners than she could remember until they came up behind a bunch of frogs making dinners, putting different things into different bowls and moving them on down the line.

_At least they're wearing masks and using chop sticks,_ she thought, _otherwise I might just lose my lunch. Who the hell decided on frogs, anyway? That's really kind of gross._

Around another corner they went, into an elevator that a slug carrying trays had just come out of, and up they went again. "We're almost there," the girl told Chihiro, who was hiding behind her, trying not to be seen by anyone.

"Right," she said, the there was light from behind her and when she looked she saw a lot of steam and blotchy figures through the slats of wood as they passed.

"Here we are," and as soon as they stopped there was a very white, very fat thing waiting for them, wearing what looked to be a red serving bowl on its head.

_Too much to drink?_ Chihiro thought with a snort, _I think so._

The girl stood up very strait then and smiled, "Wel … Welcome."

The thing let out a noise which Chihiro could only guess was a grumble and pointed upwards with a weird, thin, carrot-like finger. _Radish!_ And she mentally patted herself on the back for being ever so clever. _Thousand yen says he's the radish spirit._

"This elevator is not in service, sir. Please use another." Then she squeezed by him and marched off, Chihiro not far behind, though still glancing back at the Radish Spirit as it followed them. Down the balcony and over a walkway they went, and below were the baths and all sorts of creatures, _spirits,_ that had come to relax. They didn't slow even for a second, and Chihiro was tempted to stare at the baths full of the rubber duckies she'd seen crossing the bridge when she and Hake had made their way to the front door earlier.

"He's following us," she told the girl, not sure if it was a bad thing or not.

"Quit gawking."

She saw another elevator not far ahead and hid behind the girl when she stopped to press the service button, the radish walking right up to the doors to wait. The elevator dinged its arrival and the doors slid open.

"Here we are," came a nasal voice from inside and a bunch of the Wild Things strode out. "Your room is on the right," a frog informed them as it followed. It sniffed and turned around, "Lin?"

"Yes," the girl, now with a name, asked, pushing Chihiro into the open elevator before standing indignantly before the frog with a hand on her hip.

"What's that smell?" the frog asked, a hint of disbelief in its voice as it sniffed at her. "It's human. You reek of human."

"Is that so?" Lin retorted as the Radish tried to squeeze into the elevator with Chihiro.

"I smell it, I do. Smells mighty tasty, too." A shudder ran down her spine at that, _Oh, Kami, I'm going to be eaten._ "You're hiding something," it said, sniffing Lin again. "Tell me the truth, now."

"This smell?" and Chihiro could only guess that Lin had pulled out the lizard-on-a-stick.

The frog's eyes got really big and sweat pushed out of its pores, "Roasted … Gimme!" and he grabbed at it.

Lin dangled it up over its head, "Not a chance. It's for the other girls."

"I'm begging you. I'll settle for a leg!" and it jumped up at the treat as Lin teased it, moving the fried lizard around in circles above its head.

Chihiro smiled sardonically,_ Way to go, Lin. Maybe you're not so bad, after all._

"Anyone going up, pull down on the lever."

So she pushed herself through the space between the Radish and the wall of the elevator, grasping for the lever until she got it. Then the doors slid shut and saved her from the frog's strangely perceptive nose. She felt the elevator pulling the two of them towards the upper floors and tried not to appear as uncomfortable as she felt squished between the elevator and the Radish. The elevator stopped for a moment and he looked around the hallway of sliding paper doors, shadows playing over the surface, sandals lined up neatly in the hallway. He pulled the lever again and resumed their trip ever upwards.

Chihiro dared a glance up at him to find him looking down at her, appearing almost completely ridiculous with the bowl on his head. She quickly looked back down, _Freakyyyy._

Then the doors slid open again and this time the Radish stepped out and Chihiro followed, squeezing between him and the threshold of the elevator. On her right were two sets of doors in a dimly lit hallway, above them was what looked like a bird crest and all along the sides of the walls were enormous floral vases.

"This _must_ be it," she thought aloud, blinking a few times to make sure it wasn't her eyesight going bad.

The Radish stepped back into the elevator and bowed lightly to her, she returned the gesture and the doors shut again, leaving her alone in the incredibly intimidating hallway. With a sigh, she walked up to the doors, still not quite sure why she was being subjected to this kind of torture, she hadn't been _that_ bad of a kid … right? And as the door got bigger she noticed that the bird crest was actually an insignia with the outline of the strange bird-woman (the one with the hugely insane hairdo) and a character in the middle. Closing her eyes and shaking her head to get the image out of her mind, she walked up the short flight of steps and looked at the red doors.

_What a gaudy knocker,_ she realized and reached for the door handle.

"Not going to knock?!" the knocker nearly yelled at her as she pushed away from the entrance, throwing her hands up in front of her face. Its eyes rolled up into its skull, "What a puny girl."

Then the doors opened up all by themselves, all four sets of them, and the chandeliers brightened along the way. "Come closer," she heard a weird old granny voice say and she felt herself starting to go into shock with all the weirdness that was still inflicting itself upon her poor mental state.

_Oh damn,_ she looked around in confusion, _well that just scared the crap out of me._

"I said closer," she felt something pull her by the front of her shirt and she was being drug through the hallways by an invisible force, the doors slamming shut behind her. There was a sharp right, then a small blue door ahead of her opened of its own accord and the force pulling her disappeared, leaving her to fall forward. She ducked into a roll and came out of it, happily, landing on her own two feet on a strangely simple rug for the rest of the décor in the apartment.

There was a fireplace and two full wingback chairs next to it, and if she hadn't known better, she would have thought the place to be really very nice. But Yubaba lived here and if that was any indication of how she should think of the room, then she had a feeling that nothing here was what it seemed. She looked over, hearing thuds and different deep voices making a weird "Oi" sound. There were three green heads, full facial hair and huge eyes, bouncing and rolling towards her and all she could do was stand there, a look of disbelief on her face.

"You're making a racket," came the granny voice from a huge but small old woman with that enormous bun on top of her head. "Keep it down."

The three heads bounced around her in a circle before rolling back to Yubaba, who was writing at an ornate desk. The two behind her rolled right into the back of her knees, making her lose her balance and almost trip. They kept right on going, though, right to where the old woman sat, completely ignoring her. So Chihiro waited, deciding that maybe patience would be the best approach. But as she finished writing one paper, set it in a tray and moved on to another, she got the feeling that maybe she should start.

"Um …" she couldn't remember what she was here for. So she thought for a second, trying to recall how she came to be in front of this intimidating person and suddenly grasped it. "Please let me work here."

Yubaba looked up at her with enormous brown eyes and drew a strait horizontal line with a single finger ending in a long painted red nail. Chihiro felt like her mouth was being zipped shut and she gripped at it, trying to keep it from closing. The woman smiled lightly and looked back down at what she was doing.

"Stop babbling," she told her, resuming her writing, "You're just a useless weakling." She set a bag of what Chihiro could only guess was coins into the chest sitting on her desk, then closed it, "Besides, this is no place for humans." Gazing back at her she explained, "It's a bath house, where eight million Kami come to rest their weary bones."

Yubaba pulled out what was easily the largest cigarette that she'd ever seen and continued, "Your parents had some nerve! Gobbling our guests' food like pigs! Just desserts, I'd say." A flame sprouted from her finger and she lit the end of her cancer stick, "And you'll never see your world again, either." She inhaled deeply and blew out a plume of smoke.

All the while that the old woman had been talking, Chihiro was wriggling her mouth, trying to get it to open again, but it just wasn't happening. And when she'd mentioned her parents, she thought, _I knew that junk was bad juju, but no one listens to me!_ But the woman had her attention now, and she knew whatever was about to happen, it wouldn't be good.

"You'd make a lovely piglet," she said matter-of-factly, bobbing her head from side to side, not really looking at her, but when she did, she laughed. "Or maybe a lump of coal."

She couldn't help it, she was shaking. The woman laughed as she blew out another plume of smoke and Chihiro was mortified. Maybe this woman was crazy, she didn't want her here, but she refused to let her leave. The old woman wanted her to suffer, it didn't matter how, it didn't matter how long, but she wanted her to be completely miserable.

"I see you're trembling," she commented, "Actually, I'm impressed you made it this far." She glanced around as if she had just thought of something, "Someone must have helped you. I must thank your friend. Just who was it, my dear?" Her voice turned into something sickeningly sweet and Chihiro cringed at the sound of it. "You can tell me."

She flicked her finger at Chihiro's mouth and suddenly, it worked again. "Please let me work here," she immediately spit out, refusing to betray Kamaji and Lin to this woman.

"Not that again!" Yubaba yelled, smacking her desk and her eyes going wide in uncontrollable anger.

"I want to work here!" she shot back, refusing to give in to this woman. She remembered what Haku had said,_ If you don't work, she'll turn you into an animal._

"Shut up!" she said in an agitated voice, the papers on her desk and the curtains ruffling in an invisible wind. Then everything flew off the desk as the woman was launched across the room right in front of Chihiro.

"Why should I hire you?" she demanded, shoving her enormous nose right into Chihiro's ribs, getting her eyes right in the girl's face. Then she started circling around her and poking at her with those long ugly fingernails. "Anyone can see that you're an unruly, unmannered, sarcastic pain, and you have no respect for anyone." She was behind her now, but she dared not move, determined in a small way to hold her ground, but the larger part of her was just too scared.

"I've got nothing for you." Her nose was right against Chihiro's arm now and she was glaring at her with her right eye, "Forget it. I've got all the bums I need around here." She paused for a moment, moving to her left side and it was all the girl could do to not fall over, "Or maybe you'd like the worst, nastiest job I've got," her immense fingers clawed up her arm and she felt like passing out right then, "until you breathe your very last breath?!"

And right as those fingers wrapped around her throat, the nails poking at her neck, a boom came from where Yubaba's desk was. Both Chihiro and the woman gasped and looked over at the sound. There was another boom and another; the screen fell over, the curtain rod was half off the wall, and the picture fell right onto the floor. There were papers everywhere, books thrown astray and the chest was somewhere in that enormous mess. Everything in the far end of the room where they were came crashing to the floor, the clock, the candle holders, even the pieces on the mantle. Then there was a cry that sounded something like a baby, but a huge foot splintered the green wooden door beyond the curtains and she just couldn't take it anymore. Chihiro pushed herself into Yubaba, her skull feeling like someone was dragging nails over it, not caring if the woman turned her into an animal or not. Whatever this was, it scared her, and she wanted away from it.

"Stop that! What's wrong…" the woman asked, hiking up her skirts and running over to the foot in the door as fast as her short legs would take her. She gripped at the curtains and leaned inwards, "I'll be right there. That's a good baby, now." Then she looked back at Chihiro, "What? You still here?! Get out!"

Almost immediately, her reply was, "I want to work here!" because between Yubaba running to the "baby" and asking her why she was still there, she remembered that she really didn't want to be turned into an animal, no matter what she had thought before.

"Don't shout, the large, small woman hurriedly whispered. The enormous baby foot that had earlier kicked through the door now kicked the woman in the face; and despite how funny it was, Chihiro couldn't bring herself to laugh just yet. "I'll be right there…" Yubaba said in that sickly sweet voice. Some wood from the door lodged in her hair as it flew by again, "That's a good baby, there, there …"

Then she caught on, if she was loud and in danger of agitating Yubaba's baby, maybe the woman would quit threatening her and trying to push her out. Maybe this was the way she could get the woman to give her a job. "Please let me work."

And sure enough, "OK, OK, just pipe down." _Score!_ She thought as the woman looked back to the baby, "There, there, now," and she hurried off to settle the kid down.

_I can't believe that just worked,_ she thought, blinking at the empty space the woman had left behind. A box with a stack of papers lying a strew on the floor started to shake slightly until a single paper and a pen fell out and floated over to her. The landed in her hands and she looked down at the paper.

"Your contract," Yubaba told her, walking back to her desk, all the fallen items replacing themselves where they belonged. "Sign your name," she pulled bits of wood from her hair and righted her bun, "I'll put you to work. But one peep out of you about anything, and I'll turn you right into a piglet."

She looked down at the contract and back at Yubaba, "So I just sign here, right?" Somehow she couldn't quite believe that all it had taken was being loud to get the woman to give her a job.

"That's right. Quite dilly-dallying and do it."

…_right on, then. _So she turned to the fireplace and signed her name under the last line.

"Unbelievable," she heard the woman say, followed by the ringing of a small bell. "That ridiculous oath I took. To give work to whoever asks. Signed it?"

_Well damn the luck, and here I thought I was being a pain in the ass._ But she had finished signing, "Yeah, I'm done."

The contract floated up and away into Yubaba's hands, the woman inspecting it to see for herself. "You're Chihiro, hunh?"

She blinked, "Yes …" _If I had spidey-senses right now …_

"What an extravagant name," the woman said in that voice that she was beginning to detest. She held her hand over the paper and closed it over something, but Chihiro couldn't see what it was. "From now on, you'll be Sen," she informed her, looking beck up at the girl, daring her to say anything otherwise. "You got that? You're Sen."

_Bullshit. This woman's on a power trip,_ but she didn't want to be turned into an animal, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Answer me, Sen!"

"Yes, ma'am," and she wanted to kick the old woman, but being a piglet or a frog … or a slug, really didn't appeal to her.

"Did you call?" came a familiar voice.

She looked over and there was Haku! He just stood there, waiting on Yubaba, not even acknowledging her presence. She couldn't tell what it was, but for some reason he was different in the face of this woman, not as proud as he had been with her.

"This girl's starting work as of now. Look after her," the old woman informed him in a dismissive tone.

"Yes," was all he said in reply, then he glanced sideways at Chihiro. "Your name?"

She spared a look of confusion, unable to stop herself, "What?" _It must just be a mind game._ "Chi … oh," and she couldn't remember why she'd forgotten her own name. "It's Sen."

He turned towards the door they had both come in through, glancing back at her for a moment, "Follow me, then, Sen."

She did just that, until they were alone in an elevator headed back down. "Haku … um…" she started, looking over at him as he stood stoically in front of the lever.

"No idle chatter," he told her as he slid a look her way. "Call me Haku-sama."

_Son of a …_ but she left it alone, because, obviously, nothing _was_ what it seemed here.

Before she knew it, they were headed down to the workers' quarters, frogs and slugs staring at them both as they descended the stairs. They walked up to a frog sitting behind a wooden desk and Haku explained to him why she was here. But, apparently, he didn't like her being at the Aburaya one bit.

"Even on Yubaba's orders…" it started, shaking its head.

"We can't allow humans," the other beside him said.

"Her contract's signed," Haku informed them.

"What?!" they all seemed to ask at once.

_Might as well be a pain in the ass while I can,_ and she bowed. "Thank you, everyone."

"The slugs behind her all covered their noses, one even went as far as to complain. "Don't send her to us. Can't bear that human stink."

_Ohhhh, somebody get me some salt and a magnifying glass, this chick is ticking me off._

But Haku countered on her behalf. "Three days of eating our food and her smell will vanish. If she's still useless then fry her, boil her, do with her as you will." He looked around for more complaints, but Sen was awe struck.

_Traitorous little turn skirt,_ she wanted to beat his head in for implying that she was useless, or even for giving them permission to eat her!

"Back to work! Where's Lin?" he looked around for the girl who had helped her get to Yubaba.

Lin was leaning against a doorway, arms folded across her chest. "What, don't dump her on me!"

"You wanted help."

"That's right," the head frog said from the safety of his desk, "Lin's just perfect."

"Go, Sen," Haku ordered, turning to her for a moment.

"Yessir," and she walked solemnly over to the other girl.

"What a pain," Lin exclaimed, hands on her hips as she turned to walk out, "You're gonna pay for this."

"Off you go," the second frog told them, laughing a little at their shared misfortune.

Sen bowed as she made her way out and followed Lin down the hall and around the corner until the sliding doors turned to windows. She hardly noticed, though, too caught up in her own thoughts, so when Lin stopped and turned on her, she almost ran into her.

"You pulled it off, huh?!" she asked, suddenly excited. "You're so attitudal, I was a little worried. Guess you'll be all right here."

Sen wasn't really sure what to say to that, so she cocked her head to the side, trying not to look too confused at the sudden turn of events. _What?_

Lin popped her hands onto her hips again, "This job's pretty easy, but if you need something just ask me, I'll help you out."

Sen smiled despite her remaining confusion and nodded, "Right on." She had the feeling Lin was right, but getting her parents back and getting the hell out of this place … she wasn't so sure about that.

They went a little further down the hallway until Lin turned and went into a room, pulling the string to a hanging light. "This is our room," she told her, walking over to the closet. We'll eat chow then go to bed, work's not until sundown." She dug around through the clothes, pulling out another blue apron and handing it to Sen along with a set of hakama that matched Lin's own, "You wash your own apron! Trousers!" She sized her up and looked back into the closet, "You're about my size … aha!" and she handed Sen a shirt, too.

"Hey, Lin, I know this may seem strange, but is there any chance that Haku has a twin?" Sen couldn't help but ask.

"Two?! Of him? I sure hope not," she laughed, pulling out bedding now. "He's Yubaba's henchman, watch out for him."

Despite having suspected that, Sen's shoulders fell in defeat, she had kind of been counting on him to help her out. Regardless, she helped Lin lay out the bedding on the floor and changed over into her work clothes, wearing her apron and not the shirt.

_May as well _try_ to get some sleep, it's going to be a long day._


End file.
